She growls, "You have no idea what I'm willing to do you insignificant pup." She stares him down, "The only ememy I see here is you.....but only if you push the issue. You don't worry about what may happen to me, Id be more worried about keeping all your bones intact. Here, Ill even pay your tab." She hands Lynn a gold and gives her a reassuring nod. "Now get lost."
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"You would be wise to stand down. I mean really, is your life really worth this? Do your orders mean so much that you want to take a risk such as this?" Tanna calmly says to soldier boy.
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"I'm sorry but we're not leaving her with you," the soldier says, neither sheathing his blade nor making an advance towards the group. "You'll be charged with treason for this, but we're not going to have a fight here. It'd just be best for everyone if you turn her over to us."
"Geez, can you all calm down?" Jerrica asks. "I'll go with them."
She holds out an arm, "No....you won't. I know how these bastards operate. You've obviously seen something that comanding officer dick head doesn't want you to see, so we can't trust them. That moron won't allow for a fair trial and I'm sick and tired of watching him get away with s+&$. It ends now. Now put away your toys before you get hurt. I'm sending you with a letter to take to Captain Jozeph and only Captain Jozeph. You can say whatever you want to say, but you're going to leave without her. Either on you're own, or wrapped up in a bag slung over a horse. Your choice."
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At this point Tanna is beginning to look a bit more pale than she has before.
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The soldier that had remained silent speaks up. "I will go get the lieutenant and we can sort this out. I will be back in an hour."
[dice=Fortitude]1d20+3
Missea pipes up, "Perhaps you best run faster than that... I am not sure that your companion will still have hands soon."
"I'll be back as soon as possible, is that better?" the soldier asks Missea.
"That seems....reasonable." Vishanti chimes in, knowing that it may be the only solution to avoid bloodshed.
The soldier departs quickly. Forty five minutes later, he returns with a heavily armored man carrying a lance. The armored man approaches Derika.
"I'm Lieutenant Gath. Let's talk...in private," the man says, his face stony.
"That is all I ask." Missea calls after the running soldier.
******
"I am afraid, LT Gath, that that will not be possible. Your men made this a rather... public... affair, and like it or not, I intend to be listening to what you have to say."
Missea smiles to Gath, but it is a cold one, like first light hitting newfallen snow.
"I am Missea by the way, priestess of Sarenrae."
"These are secular matters, Priestess Missea," Gath says, his face unchanging. "And from what I heard, you were the ones who took an interest in Specialist DeLamis."
He steps toward the cleric. "Only Derika is privy to what I have to say, unless you plan on joining our fair military."
She gafaws, "Leave her out of this stinky. I will speak with you privately, but that doesn't mean Ill change my mind." She smirks at him as she turns to the others, "Please keep an eye on her and don't let them touch her.....please." She then turns to the soldiers, "Either of you move from that spot, and I won't leave enough of you left fir your own mamas to identify. Understood?" She smiles as she gestures up the stairs, "After you"
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"No, I am afraid I am not... just as I am afraid that unless you are giving her specific coded secret orders, or are talking to her about some other matter than Miss Jerrica DeLamis that you wish private, that I will be here to listen to what you have to say concerning her."
Missea looks intently at Jerrica, then Derika, then Gath.
"Your men brought her in here, bound up and gagged like a lamb about to be slaughtered. They set her down into a chair most unceremoniously, then proceeded to be rude to the staff here and grudging on any point of discussion. Tell me, if you were in any of our shoes and two men brought a woman so bound into an establishment you were staying at, would you not get involved as well? If your men wanted to give you the 'talk in private' option, they should have left her outside or in one of the cells this town has. And had you been here personally, perhaps they would have... but it is too late for what ifs now."
Noticing the paleness of Tanna she stops by her and picks her up as if she weighs nothing. "Don't fuss princess, you aren't well and need some rest." She waits for him before starting up the stairs after him.
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Missea turns to Derika.
"If you are sure, then I will stay here... but I don't like this."
Turning back to Gath, she coolly looks into his eyes.
"Anything untoward happens up there, you had best pray to whatever god you follow that she kills you. Otherwise you will not make it out of this building."
Holding Tanna carefully in her arms she looks at them, "I'm gonna put her in bed.....she's not well. Let me know what the two of you decide to do." She turns and starts up the stairs. Even though she used the nickname she had given Tanna when they first met, her voice when she said it had a completely different inflection to its tone.
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"Are all servants of Sarenrae as nosy as you?" Gath says to Missea. "The fact that Specialist DeLamis is not already dead speaks volumes. Traitors to Camaden don't usually get escorted back to Ganz, those matters are dealt with then and there. She has misgivings, that's fine. Attacking us and destroying property isn't a helpful way to air her issues. Would you not agree? Or is the worship of Rovagug gaining traction these days in the Dawnflower's church?"
She looks at Missea and actually smiles, "Thanks....she's not getting any lighter.....ya mind hurrying it up a bit Gathy?"
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She glares at Gath, " Mind your tongue Gathy....lest I remove it for you....permanently." She motions up the stairs with her head, "Now, move it."
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Gath turns and follows Derika. "Seems like the people at the Academy were right about you, Corporal Derika. Mouthy, obstinate and a waste of time. I'll keep this simple: You want to put your lot in with traitors, that's fine. I never want to see you in Ganz again. I'll leave DeLamis in your care, but, if she ever sets foot in a civilized place, she will be arrested and put to death."
Telsyn stifles a laugh. "Civilized..."
"Are all servants of Sarenrae as nosy as you? Gath says to Missea. "The fact that Specialist DeLamis is not already dead speaks volumes. Traitors to Camaden don't usually get escorted back to Ganz, those matters are dealt with then and there. She has misgivings, that's fine. Attacking us and destroying property isn't a helpful way to air her issues. Would you not agree? Or is the worship of Rovagug gaining traction these days in the Dawnflower's church?"
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"So...umm...bloody weather's awful, ain't it?" Jerrica asks, overwhelmed by the tension in the room.
She laughs outright in his face, "What they must have forgotten is that I don't get intimidated easily, I take threats poorly, and I'm very thorough. If the one who fed you that load of f*!$ing bs is who I think it is, and I know it isn't Captain Jozeph, then their summation of me means very little. Especially when coming from the lips of a fool." She holds up her hand to silence him, her claws extending. "I let you say your peace so now you'll hear mine. I am not the kind to sit idly by and let you or anyone else pass sentence on someone because they found out something that you or one of your other no neck officers were trying to find. I will get to the bottom of whatever it is that's going on, and I will be making a full report of my findings in extreme detail to my commanding officer and head of the Ganz Military Academy....where I grew up. There are quite a few advantages to being ignored and I would be very very careful who you make threats to. Now, as far as Ms, Jerrica is concerned....she is now my charge I will do what I like. No one tells me where I can and can't go and I have a companion in need of real treatment. I'm not sure yet how bad it is....but I know it's a disease and I know she can't last much longer without proper treatment. So, with that in mind will be taking her back to Aravel, I'm not sure....but I think she might be from there. While there I will investigate things for myself.....and if I find anything even slightly out of the ordinary.....well, lets just say we'll be seeing who the traitor really is." She stops her tirade for just a moment to take a breath and slow her breathing, trying desperately to block out past memories that have suddenly come bubbling to the surface.
"You may be a man in fancy armor....but you're still only a man, and even you can't wear your armor all the time." She sighs and waves her hand in a careless manor, "Bottom line Gath, where we go, she goes. As long as she is with me, you'll not touch her and neither will anyone else. I don't care who you think you are, you may have rank....but you don't own this land. I don't think I'll be seeing you again, and I'll be making my reports straight to the Captain from this point on."
She looks at him for a moment, her eyes soften only ever so slightly. "Camaden is my home as are it's people....I know I have a temper, but everyone knows that. The entire country needs....I don't know, healing maybe? Just know, I'll not let anyone suffer unjustly while I'm here."
While speaking she has come about within five feet of him or so, the resolve in her eyes in unmistakable as she waits for his reply.
"I'll have my doctor look at your friend. I suggest that you should continue to look into your own assignment, rather than getting sidetracked by other people's issues," Gath says, hand on the hilt of his sword. "And your reports no longer matter. I have the power to remove you from the military as per Captain Jozeph's orders and, as soon as I am done here, you are hereby formally discharged. As far as you are concerned, you're a dead woman, Derika. I shall inform the Captain of your untimely demise."
He returns downstairs and cuts Jerrica free from her bonds. "Turn over her gear and get Owlsbey in here to look at the elf."
The soldier with the black eye gives Jerrica her armor, weapons and backpack. The other runs outside and brings back a bespectacled, wiry young man who heads toward Tanna's room. He quickly casts a series of spells, removing the disease and healing the damage it had done. As soon as Owlsbey finishes, the young medic heads outside.
Gath turns around a final time, glaring at Derika. "Like I said, go about your business and clean out the keep so we don't have to keep wasting our resources on petty matters."
He slams the door behind him as he leaves.
Orym returns to his seat and downs his entire mug at once. "What have I gotten myself into?" he thinks to himself. He manages to push the choice words he has back into his stomach, underneath the rest of his breakfast.
Jerrica sits and sighs. "That went better than one could've hoped...So I guess I owe you folks my life..."
Her eyes go large and round at his proclmation before turning hard and fiery as moletn lava. Coming out of her room faster than he could imagine she yells at him, "Wow...I guess you DO have something to hide. I'll make my OWN report thank you VERY much!
Stomping down the stairs she sighs, "Well....I'm sure now he definitely has something to hide. So, now that the ape men are gone....can you tell us what you saw?"
She looks at the others with a guilty expression on her face, but her eyes while looking a bit moist hold a hardness to them.
"Hold on Jerrica I have to say something first." Taking a big breath she looks at the others, "I'm sorry about the mess....but the fact that he doesn't want me reporting to Captain Jozeph at all...just tells me he's hiding something. He told me I was a dead woman as far as they were concerned and he'd make a report to Captain Jozeph saying I had an...untimely demise. Which of course I'm not gonna let stand, however....what is happening here is more important than myself or my own laughingly so called Military Career. I told these people I would help them, and I intend to do just that....and not just because ape face told me to so "they could stop wasting their resources on petty matters." I don't know about you....but, I don't consider anyone's life to be a petty matter."
She looks down at the table, her blue hair covering her face. "Of course I'll understand if any of you no longer wish to throw your lot in with me."
"Looks like yer stuck with me anyway," Jerrica says, slipping on the studded leather armor and buckling her two rapiers at her side. "They're not sure of what I saw and maybe I...overreacted a little. Seems the Trade Princess is having a bit of a spat with a neighboring country, Weyfaire, so she wants to solve it with some violence. I don't know too many details but they're planning something."
She sighs, "Maybe you did and maybe you didn't.....I know I probably most definitely did....but, what's done is done. I just don't like the idea of innocent people being trampled on. It would help me to sort some of this out if you could remember exactly what you saw....but we have time for all that. The people really suffering right now are the ones in this town, so they have to take priority right now. We'll figure everything out in time. Let's just forget about the no necks for now, and concentrate on what we have to do here. No need to worry about it unless they make it an issue."
Tanna thanks the man for her healing. "May your God smile upon you."
She then moves over to Jerrica and sits down. "What's this unrest you speak of?"
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Before he leaves, Missea (still smoldering over that comment about the Destroyer) stops him by standing in front of him.
"You have insulted Sarenrae this day by comparing her faithful to the enemy of all creation, may he and his spawn be bound forever. I pity you. Men have been struck blind for less."
She steps out of his way and continues, with a very cold, very cruel smile.
"Enjoy your sight while you still have it, LT. I pray that you make amends for your arrogance and seek the healing light of the Dawnflower before it becomes your doom."
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F**k tha police...
[bigger]
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Unfazed, Telsyn makes sure he's got all his gear. Let's go clean up that keep.
Jerrica looks at Tanna for a moment before answering. "Stuff above my head really. I'm sure it has to do with spices or metals or whatever it is that compels someone to wage war against another. The bottom line is money, o' course."
She perks up when Telsyn mentions the keep. "Exploring some ruins? Sounds like fun."
Derika sits at the table shaking slightly, her blue face now a slightly lighter blue with a grey twinge to it. Putting her head in her hands she beckons Lynn over, "Could I please have a cup of tea? I think I need something hot."
Shaking her head she curses quietly to herself before looking up at Jerrica's young face, "By the Gods I don't know if I did you any favors really.......I'm not exactly the best role model."
"According to most people, I was born bad," Jerrica says with a shrug.
F**k tha police...
Lynnie brings Derika a cup of tea. "It's like this every year..."
Taking the tea with a grateful nod she says, "What do you mean Lynn?"